Control boxes do not respond in Win 98 SE

[warhog73]

I am running Win 98 SE, P4 850GB 256 RIMM; IE6 w/newest SP pack, Norton Anti Virus, TDS-3. Since Wednesday, certain control boxes do not respond when clicked; i.e. in my Hotmail account the "Quick Address" list, "Edit", "Show All", and "Help" (beside of "Options&quot. Nothing happens. When I visit a Web site, certain controls will not respond in them, either. And, when I open programs such as "My Briefcase", after I click the upper right "-" (minimize)symbol, the program will remain up (onscreen), even though it goes through the motions(sound, all) of minimizing. It will show on the lower toolbar as being minimized, but is still on-screen. It will hang (not respond) after I try to close it from the toolbar, and I have to do the 3 fingered salute (control, alt., delete). Last, some programs are extremely slow to shutdown after clicking the "X"(close) control. You're a good'un if you can get this one, 'cause I ain't no FNG at this. Will repay in kind for solution(s, sooner or later. Thanks. Don't forget those who serve and protect: Your Armed Forces personnel and Disabled Veterans (DAV).

 

[ski]

Update your AV program, and check for a virus.
If none is found, then run the IE repair tool.
If still no luck, then uninstall and reinstall IE.
If nothing works, then you may have to back up, reformat, and reinstall.

 

[warhog73]

Thank you for the effort, ski. Already tried all. This occurred about 6 months ago, and I had to dig every bit of IE6 out, uninstall Win 98 SE, reinstall Win98 SE (No re- format), then upgrade from IE5 (default from Win 98 CD) to IE6, which may be a mistake. Perhaps I should stick with IE5 or 5.5 instead of IE6 (tried to solve it for 2 weeks before I did all of this). The precursor to this is pictures(images, whatever) start showing up missing, and after about 2 -3 weeks of this, the control problem starts. I have noticed in the lower left corner above "Start" that "Error on page"
shows when this is a problem. I think the problem lies somewhere between javascript,IE6 digestion in my system, and file corruption.
Again, thanks, yours is good, solid advice and does work.
BTW, I have been tempted to tear IE out and reinstall as a "stand-alone application" (right terminology?) instead of integrating it with the system. Have you, or anyone out there had any success with this? Am going to use IE Eradicator. Should be a blast! Don't forget those who serve and protect: Your Armed Forces personnel and Disabled Veterans (DAV).

 

[ski]

A reformat and a clean install of Windows can work wonders, if you have not already tried that.